A Lucky Find
Yesterday, I posted a recording of Robert Alda singing “Luck Be a Lady” from the Original Cast Album of the Broadway musical Guys & Dolls. I thought I’d jump across the pond to a London production of the show.
It seems that they love Guys & Dolls on the West End, and have had many revivals of the show. At one point, I think in the 1970s, Laurence Olivier was actually in serious talks to star as ‘Sky Masterson’ in a National Theater production, but I think he got ill, and later schedules couldn’t be coordinated, and so it never came off. In 1982, however, the National Theatre did do a production, and they had an up-and-coming actor in the role of ‘Nathan Detroit’ – Bob Hoskins. (This is the role played by Frank Sinatra in the movie.) I got to see this, and it was wonderful, as was Hoskins, who I didn’t know of at the time.
This video comes from another London revival of the show, done in 2005. It starred another big name – this time, Ewan McGregor as ‘Sky Masterson.” And here is a video of him in the role, with the lead-in dialogue that heads into the song, “Luck Be a Lady.” He does a terrific New York accent – sounding nothing like the Ewan McGregor you know. And his singing is excellent. The video quality and audio isn’t great, taken from the audience, but it’s good enough and a great record to have.
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